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Relic
Plot Summary Introduction In 1987, Julian Whittlesey is leading an expedition into the Xingú Rainforest of Brazil in search of the reclusive Kothoga Tribe, presumed extinct. The book begins shortly after Whittlesey has discovered a hut full of artifacts belonging to the Kothoga, as well as a number of disturbingly smashed human skulls. Whittlesey decides the Kothoga must still be alive on top of a remote tepui and, after sending his assistant Carlos away with the artifacts collected during the expedition, decides to ascend the tepui on his own. At the base of the tepui, he is stalked by an unknown creature and presumably killed. The crates containing the artifacts arrive in Belém, Brazil, where they are lost in the uproar following the expedition's demise. Months later, a stevedore discovers them and is attempting to steal artifacts when he is killed under mysterious circumstances. The crates are then shipped on to the United States. Museum of Unnatural Mystery The story resumes in New York in 1995, at the New York Museum of Natural History. A young boy (Billy) and his brother disappear after wandering away from their parents and sneaking into the basement of the museum. When their mutilated bodies are found the following day, police swarm the building and question the employees, including anthropology graduate student Margo Green, her advisor Dr. Whitney Frock and her coworker Greg Kawakita. While NYPD lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta attempts to make headway in the investigation, journalist Bill Smithback, a friend of Margo's, sniffs around for a scoop. The killings are so savage that many assume the killer must be an animal. Museum employees begin reviving rumors of the "Museum Beast", an urban legend about a monster that supposedly killed a man years ago. Meanwhile, curator George Moriarty and other museum staffers are preparing for the sensational new Superstition Exhibition. Moriarty enlists Margo to help him prepare part of the exhibit having to do with her specialty, ethnopharmacology. After a second murder occurs on museum grounds, Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI arrives to assist. He surprises Lt. D'Agosta by not immediately taking over the investigation. Pendergast tells D'Agosta that he had investigated killings in the New Orleans area with a similar modus operandi several years earlier. In both sets of killings, the back of the skull is smash and part of the brain removed. Pendergast leads them from the crime scene to a door leading to the Secure Storage Area, establishing this as an area of interest. While the investigators attempt to determine the nature of the killer, the museum is put on lockdown and a curfew is established. Museum attendance drops sharply, to the chagrin of Director Winston Wright. Pendergast interviews Dr. Frock and Margo Green, under the assumption that the murder weapon is an artifact stolen from the anthropological collections. Pendergast investigates the Secure Area and finds a set of crates with deep gouges, which match the impression of the murder weapon. Furthermore, he finds that these crates were the only artifacts to be moved in or out of the Secure Area in the last six months. Dr. Cuthbert explains that the crates contained a Mbwun figurine that he intended to use in the Superstition Exhibition. When he came to get the figurine from the crate he found that it had been broken into, so he ordered the crates moved into the Secure Area. Nothing is missing from the crates except for Julian Whittlesey's journal and some unidentified seed pods. Superstition Exhibition He Who Walks On All Fours Epilogue Characters Major Characters * Margo Green * Bill Smithback * Vincent D'Agosta * Aloysius Pendergast * Greg Kawakita * Mbwun Minor Characters Julian Whittlesey Julian Whittlesey was an American anthropologist who worked at the New York Museum of Natural History. He was co-leader of the 1987 Maxwell/Whittlesey Expedition and disappeared in the Brazilian rainforest after sending back several crates full of important artifacts to the museum. Carlos Carlos was Whittlesey's camp assistant and head porter on the 1987 Maxwell/Whittlesey Expedition. He may have been Brazilian, Venezuelan, or a native of another South American country. Whittlesey spoke to him in Spanish. After looking into the Kothoga Hut, Carlos's normally black hair turned pure white. At Whittlesey's request and despite his own misgivings, Carlos left Whittlesey and returned with the expedition's specimen crates to Pôrto de Mós, to ensure they made it back to the museum. Crocker Crocker was Whittlesey's assistant on the 1987 Maxwell/Whittlesey Expedition. He disappeared in the jungle after the discovery of the Kothoga Hut and was later found dead and mutilated by Whittlesey, presumably killed by the Kothoga. Ven Stevens "Ven" Stevens (real first name Stevenson; real last name unknown) was a stevedore at the Belém, Brazil docks. He was an American who came to Brazil because Miami "got too hot". He was involved in smuggling goods from Brazil into the United States. Stevens discovered the forgotten Whittlesey Crates in a warehouse at the Belém Docks and was attempting to break into them when he was killed by Mbwun. * Kothoga Tribe * Maxwell * Jörgenson * Billy Bridgeman (a.k.a Red-Haired Kid, full name William Howard Bridgeman) and Billy's Younger Brother. Billy is about 11 years old. The two boys wandered into the museum basement and were killed by Mbwun. Billy was eviscerated and decapitated in the attack, and the portion of his brain containing the hypothalamus was eaten. * Juan: An unhappy museum guard who wants to take the police exam *Curly: An ancient museum guard who mans the pillbox at the staff entrance *Jimmy, a museum guard normally stationed at the Peruvian Gold Hall *Charlie Prine, a conservation expert from Harvard in charge of restoring objects for the Superstition Exhibition. Prine discovered the first bodies in what would come to be known as the Museum Beast Murders. *Frank Freed: An icthyology curator described as "testy". Freed questions Vincent D'Agosta about the security precautions after the first murders. *Dr. Winston Wright: The Museum Director. Dresses in Savile Row suits and has pale skin and thinning hair. Wright is somewhat pompous and is uncooperative until Pendergast threatens to close the museum and cancel the Superstition Exhibition. *Dr. Ian Cuthbert: Assistant Director in charge of the Superstition Exhibition. Cuthbert is Scottish. *Ippolito, Director of Security at the museum *Lavinia Rickman, Chief of Public Relations, Smithback's employer and nemesis. Rickman censors any controversy or unfavorable mention of the museum in Smithback's work, much to his resentment. *Dr. Matilda Ziewicz: A medical doctor and expert on big cats brought in to examine the bodies. *Fred Gross, Dr. Ziewicz's assistant *Delbert Smith, the photographer at the Medical Examiner's Office *George Moriarty, the curator of the Superstition Exhibition. He young and slightly overweight, with brown hair, hazel eyes, and horn-rimmed glasses. Moriarty likes tweed suits and carries a leather briefcase. He is critical of Smithback, who calls him a "company man", but friendly to Margo. He asks her to help him with the exhibition and seems to be interested in her romantically. Moriarty disappears and is later found dead in Mbwun's Lair. *Jonathan Hamm: A dog tracker who works with the NYPD. He and his hounds, Castor and Pollux, are hired by the NYPD to track the killer into the museum subbasement. *Fred Jolley, a security guard who leaves his rounds to smoke a marijuana joint and is killed by Mbwun. *Eric Norris: Another security guard who discovers Jolley's body. *Collins and McHenry: The coroner's investigator and photographer who examine Jolley's body at the crime scene. *Bailey Smith: Elderly and curmudgeonly Curatorial Assistant in charge of the Herbarium. Has been with the museum for 42 years as of the events of Relic. *Lewis Turow: A geneticist working at the lab that analyzes material from the claw removed from Billy Bridgeman. He is confused when the material does not match any of the animals in the target group (big cats) and instead is a partial match with a human and a Turkish Gecko. Turow assumes the sample is a joke and identifies the sample as Homo gekkopiens. Locations * New York Museum of Natural History * Upper Xingú Rainforest (Amazon Basin) * Kothoga Hut * Belem Docks * Pôrto de Mós * New York City Medical Examiner's Office * Margo Green's apartment, located on upper Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan, across from a liquor store Objects Whittlesey's Necklace Whittlesey carried a talisman, a gold arrow overlaid by a silver arrow, around his neck. It was a family heirloom that he had worn since childhood. * Whittlesey Crates * Plant Fibers * Mbwun Figurine * Kothoga Carved Discs * MUSENET: The museum computer network, designed by Cerebral Systems Inc. Margo's login is MARGO GREEN@BIOTECH@STF. Margo uses MUSENET's word processing module to store her meeting notes for meetings with Dr. Frock. *Mbwun's Claw: A talon extracted from Billy Bridgeman's body during his autopsy and later analyzed for genetic material by Greg Kawakita. *Genetic Sequence Extrapolator (GSE): A computer program developed by Greg Kawakita and Dr Frock to compare and provide hypothetical combinations of the genes of different species. The program lives on the museum computer network, and while running, reduces throughput for the rest of the system to "hand-calculator mode". *Whittlesey's Journal *Seed Pods: Contained in the Whittlesey Crates. Described as brown in color, big, round, heavy, and rugose. Events * Maxwell/Whittlesey Expedition * Superstition Exhibition * Museum Beast Murders